Julie Comparini

Contralto. Early and new music.

Interdisciplinary theater projects.

Auf ein Wort - Brechtlieder

Bertolt Brecht was one of the most influential German poets and playwrights of the 20th century. Collaborative projects with musicians and composers were an integral part of his work. Many of Brecht's texts question the role of the individual in society. What is a person worth? From what source do people draw their sense of self-worth? What happens in a society where people's worth goes unrecognized? "Auf ein Wort" features song settings by Hanns Eisler and Paul Dessau on these and related themes.

Fernweh Bremerhaven

June 26, 2018

The postwar years were a period of economic and social mobility. Radio and television broadcasts brought music from around the world into German homes and new technologies made it possible to travel around the world in style. And so the German "Nachkriegsschlager" -- and the German tourist -- were born.

Bremerhaven became not only a port of exit for transatlantic passage, but a tourist destination -- which it still aims to be today.

Fernweh Bremerhaven explores Bremerhaven's past and present role as a tourist destination in interviews, discussions, and a musical journey through the "wonder years."

The Nightingale

April 16, 2018

In the garden of the imperial court in China, a nightingale sings and enchants all who hear. One day, a toy nightingale comes to the court as a gift, and the real bird is chased away. But when Death comes to fetch the empress, only the real nightingale is able to oust him.

Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Nightingale inspired this "opera in a nutshell" for children and their families. Using music by Georg Philipp Telemann and a newly-commissioned libretto, Ensemble Sospiri Ardenti revives the baroque tradition of the pasticcio opera for modern audiences.

The Nightingale will be making its debut at the Leipziger Bachfest in June 2018 with three performances (in German) presented by "bach für uns" and the Leipziger Schulkonzerte.

Die Leuchte Asiens

February 14, 2018

By Eileen Jahn

The 1925 silent film The Light of Asia (Prem Sanyas or Die Leuchte Asiens) was the highlight of the 2017 Musikfilmfestival in Bremen. India's first international coproduction as well as the first ever German-Indian co-production, the film offers a unique look into the long-vanished world of India in the 1920s. For the 2017 festival, the Musikfilmfestival Bremen commissioned a new soundtrack by celebrated world musician Willy Schwarz and composer Riccardo Castagnola that combines classical Indian music with contemporary electronics and creates a musical bridge between history and cultures.

Photo: Willy Schwarz

The project has now found its way "home": on January 18, 2018, the film was presented with the new soundtrack and live music by Willy Schwarz at the Goethe Institute in Chennai (Madras) in India to an audience that included professional musicians, film critics and Dr Helmut Schipper, director of the Goethe Institute in Chennai. Further performances in India are in planning. We at the Musikfilmfestival are thrilled that this project is traveling around the world. The next chance to see the film will be at the international Berlinale film festival. Willy Schwarz and Julie Comparini will be present for the screening on February 17th.

Meeresleuchten

Long unconquered by humankind, the sea is the birthplace of a rich multitude of myths and legends. Its more sinister side inspired many Romantic-era poets and artists, both serving as a metaphor for unpredictable and often brutal emotional states and being a source of very real danger. Sailors, fishermen, adventurers and travellers alike often perished in its depths, as the vast number of shipwrecks still rotting on the ocean floor can attest to. There live, according to ancient legends, the fantastic creatures of the deep: nymphs, mermaids, sea monsters, or kings and queens of sunken continents in their glass-walled underwater palaces. These eerie and mythical worlds illustrate, in abstract form, our primal fear of the sea.

At the beginning lush and poetical, the musical works in this programme gradually evolve into ominous fantasies and realistic images of the sea's hidden perils.

Website Renovations Finished!

July 5, 2017

Website renovations have been finished! Here it is with a new look, new photos, and new features (projects and video). Have a look around and if anything doesn’t work, please feel free to send an email to Julie Comparini. Thanks!

N.B. If you're using an antiquated browser (i.e. Internet Explorer 8, 9, or earlier), some site features will work sub-optimally or not at all. If that is the case, we highly recommend switching to a modern browser -- not only to use this site, but in the interest of your own Internet safety in general. If you're using a recent version of Firefox, Chrome, Safari or Internet Explorer and are experiencing problems with this site, we would love to hear about it so that we can correct the problem. Thank you!

Menuchims Reise

May 4, 2017

The "Stadtteil-Oper" Menuchims Reise

Osterholz-Tenever may not be Bremen's most glamorous neighborhood, but it is home to an extraordinary opera project that brings the students of the Gesamtschule-Ost together with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the women of the Mütterzentrum, refugees living in temporary housing, faculty of the Gesamtschule-Ost, students and professors of the Hochschule für Künste and international soloists.

This year's Stadteil-Oper focuses on the USA and Eastern Europe. It is the story (adapted from Joseph Roth's novel Hiob) of the Singers, a Jewish family in a schtetl in what is now Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. Faced with poverty, oppression and conflict, they emigrate to America, but must leave their youngest son behind. As the Second World War begins, their daughter Miriam embarks on a dangerous journey to bring Menuchim to New York and reunite the family.

With music by Gustav Mahler, Sergej Prokoview, George Gershwin, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Erich Zeisl and other Eastern European composers who found a new life in America.

Auf ein Wort - Brechtlieder

Bertolt Brecht was one of the most influential German poets and playwrights of the 20th century. Collaborative projects with musicians and composers were an integral part of his work. Many of Brecht's texts question the role of the individual in society. What is a person worth? From what source do people draw their sense of self-worth? What happens in a society where people's worth goes unrecognized? "Auf ein Wort" features song settings by Hanns Eisler and Paul Dessau on these and related themes.

The concert location is the "Altes Pumpwerk", a unique space built in Bremen's former water works, now a water museum. It is possible -- and recommended -- to visit the museum before the concert.

Musikfilmfestival Bremen — Leaving Home

January 1, 2017

Where do musical traditions have their "home" and how can music define or create that home? Musicians from fourteen countries around the world show how different musical traditions can interact, influence each other and be a force for social and political change.

Hayden Chisholm from New Zealand explores the landscape of German folk music in "Sound of Heimat" (D 2012; in German, Thursday. 26.Jan / 19:30, with guests Hayden Chisholm, Loni Kuisle and Peter Schenk from the Arbeitnehmerkammer Bremen). "Blackhearts" follows Black Metal fans from around the world who have found their spiritual home in Norway (NOR 2016, 83 Min., orig. with English subtitles; 27. Jan. / 22:30). Crossover projects and new directions for old traditions save the careers of the musicians in "Song of Lahore" (USA 2015, orig. with English subtitles; 27.Jan /18:00.), make 19th-century opera contemporary in "La Bohème am Kap" (SA 2015, Xhosa with German subtitles; 28. Jan. / 18:00), drive political movements in "Sumé - The Sound of a Revolution" (Greenland 2014, orig. with English subtitles; 29. Jan. / 18:00) and fight for freedom and peace in the face of repression in "Mali Blues" (D 2016, French with German subtitles; 28.Jan / 20:30 with director Lutz Gregor) and "Electro Chaabi" (Egypt/F 2013, orig. with German subtitles; 28.Jan. / 22:30). Globalisation and the practically endless possibilities afforded by the digital era play a central role in "Presenting Princess Shaw" (ISR 2016, 80 Min., in English; 29. Jan / 20:30.)

Highlight of the festival: the 1925 Indian-German co-production "The Light of Asia" ("Die Leuchte Asiens") with a newly composed live soundtrack. Celebrated Indian and world music expert Willy Schwarz and composer Riccardo Castagnola combine classical Indian music with contemporary electronics and create a musical bridge between historiy and cultures. (27.Jan. / 20:30 * with live music. Made possible with the generous support the Indian Embassy in Berlin.

All films and events take place in Bremen's communal cinema City 46, Birkenstraße 1, 28195 Bremen. For more information about the program and the festival, visit the MFF website.

The Fugue for Thought Podcast and Cabaret Voltaire

October 1, 2016

Alan at Fugue for Thought was so happy with my contributions to the René Leibowitz article that I was asked to be a guest on his podcast! We talk about my musical (and non-musical) background, working with early and new music, the piece "Explanation of Metaphors", the "Cabaret Voltaire" operetta and musical life in general. It's a wonderful interview and you can listen to it on iTunes or via the Fugue for Thought blog.

By the way, the Cabaret Voltaire operetta was recorded on video and we are currently crowdfunding a DVD production. The DVD is planned for limited, non-commercial release, so if you want one, please donate to the crowdfunding effort at the link below!

Cabaret Voltaire

August 10, 2016

World Premiere of a new operetta by Peter Stangel (Music) and Jürgen von Stenglin (Text).

Zürich in 1916: the avant-garde art movement DADA opens the Cabaret Voltaire, a new establishment for the advancement of DADA art and performance. At the same time -- and on the other side of the street -- lives Vladimir Ilitsch Lenin in Swiss exile. Tristan Tzara and Lenin, James Joyce and Emmy Hennings, love, spies, nobles and a butler all have their appearances in Cabaret Voltaire. A musical-theatrical homage to Zürich at a time when even the strangest artistic meetings were possible, with a tip of the hat to Offenbach and Weill.

Dominik Wilgenbus as narrator and nine singers, along with the taschenphilharmonie and video projections by Cornelia von Seidlein bring the audience on a wild ride through the world of avant-garde intellectual entertainment.

Great blog article about „Explanation of Metaphors“

There's a great article on René Leibowitz's work Explanation of Metaphors up at the blog Fugue for Thought. A sample excerpt of the live performance of this work can be found on my Audio page, but it's worth buying the piece, or the whole album -- "René Leibowitz Compositeur" -- on iTunes or as a beautiful double-CD edition from Divox.